Global health infrastructure- challenges for the next decade

Global health infrastructurechallenges for the next decade
Report of the HaCIRIC International Conference 2011
26 - 28 September, Manchester, UK
Introduction
Across the world, around $360 billion is expected to be spent annually over the next decade.
HaCIRIC’s 2011 International Conference brought researchers and practitioners from across
disciplines and countries to focus on key challenges in the provision of healthcare
infrastructure for the 21st century. In this report, we present some of the insights from the
conference. Slides for each of these presentations can be accessed at www.haciric.org in
the section devoted to this conference.
Keynote Speakers:
Making hospitals elder-friendly and flexible is crucial to long-term sustainability
Rudi van den Broek, (Chief Project Officer, Vancouver Island Health Authority) presented
on his new hospital that was opened in Spring 2011 on Vancouver Island. It is designed to fit
the expected ageing population and to be adaptable to changing needs over the next 50
years.
In a presentation entitled ‘Hospital of the future - the 7 habits to an elder friendly hospital’, he
argued that the goal was to design a 50-100 year asset that would be flexible for adaption
many times in its life time. A key immediate requirement was that it should deal with ‘the
tsunami of over 65 year olds’, a group that is rising dramatically in number and who are
typically the most expensive patients to treat.
Mr van den Broek said that hospitals of the future are for those patients with the highest
cognitive and physical needs. He set out the ambition of the Vancouver hospital: ‘If we could
build a hospital for these people then it will serve everyone. We wanted there to be
uncluttered calm, quite obvious ways to get around the hospital with hand rails, clear
delineation of the wall and floors, easy access to outdoors including handrails. We also
wanted to have kitchen facilities. We want an environment that is engaging and attractive to
families. We want it to be harder not to wash hands than it is to wash them.’
He said the design of the hospital in Vancouver included 400 changes to the bedrooms,
which were mocked up in the design process. ‘Mocking up five bedrooms and doing fullscale reviews of them cost us Canadian$150,000 but saved us millions,’ he said.
The hospital was opened after a relatively short development process, lasting three years
and eight months from start to finish. Among the innovations are hand rails from the beds
straight to the bathroom, to prevent falls and reduce calls for staff assistance. All doors
required patient validation via a reference group of over 65 year olds.
Initial evaluation of the recently opened hospital is encouraging: inter-unit transfers have
been reduced by 46 per cent; average length of stay has fallen from ten to eight days; hand
washing is up 9 points at 74 per cent and overhead pages to staff are down 98 per cent from
12,300 to just over 200, reflecting reduced stress on patients and staff. The hospital is open
to visitors all the time - visiting hours have been abandoned. There is anecdotal evidence of
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improved sleeping , reduced aggression, better communications, improved biking by staff to
work and satisfaction at enhanced access to nature.
Mr van den Broek highlighted seven principles for effective change in such developments.
1. Begin with the End: Envision the ideal characteristics
2. Be Proactive: Your decisions are the primary determining factor for effectiveness
3. First Things First: Plan, prioritize, and execute on importance rather than urgency
4. Have Fun: Balance and renew your resources to create a sustainable project
5. Synergize: Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork.
6. Seek First to Understand: Empathetically listen and keep an open mind.
7. Think Win-Win: Strive for mutually beneficial solutions
See the presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/Hospital_of_the_Future_-_Rudi.pdf
Infrastructure as a means of redesigning unscheduled care services
Dr Mike Burrows (Chief Executive of NHS Manchester) presented on the process of
renewing acute and primary healthcare in a deprived part of Greater Manchester. He set out
a series of lessons learned.
Dr Burrows described how Salford PCT, of which he was then Chief Executive, covered an
area of Greater Manchester that has considerable social deprivation and improving but
higher than average mortality and morbidity for a wide range of conditions, including all the
main cancers. These challenges were compounded by outdated healthcare infrastructure,
notably Salford Royal Hospital, which was built in the Victorian era, with Nightingale wards.
An asset was that the PCT was co-terminus with local government and Salford Royal was
the sole, local acute hospital and long-overdue for renewal.
His presentation dealt with the renewal of the acute facility. First, he sketched the activities
required to develop a cross-institutional body entitled ‘Salford Health Investment for
Tomorrow’. SHIFT’s role was to establish a vision for health renewal and a process whereby
needs and service redesign led infrastructural renewal. The work faced issues such as
emergency bed usage running at 60 per cent above the national norm. Against this backdrop
and high levels of acute illness, Dr Burrows’ team had an ambitious goal to shift from a 400
to a 340 medical beds hospital.
Some of the solutions adopted included opening a range of intermediate care beds that
could also operate as ‘step-up’ beds to reduce acute admissions. Salford PCT also opened
Walk-In Centres, which, though popular, failed to impact on A+ E attendance and so were
eventually closed. A new Manchester Triage System was designed which included primary
care and not just those seeking treatment from emergency departments.
Placing GPs into A+ E departments proved unsuccessful in reducing admissions as they
soon tended to adopt the same risk approach as hospital doctors. A big step forward has
been to develop a rudimentary Integrated Record System of primary and acute care, which
has improved both the speed and quality of hospital diagnoses.
Some good outcomes of the service redesign and the new infrastructure have included
reducing attendance at A+E and some acute admissions. Bed days have been reduced in
emergency care.
See presentation slides including the lessons learned at Salford PCT:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/HACIRIC.pdf
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Driving adoption of technology in the NHS
Sally Chisholm (CEO, NHS Technology Adoption Centre) explained how widespread
research shows that the NHS is very slow at taking innovative technologies and using them
in routine clinical practice. She added that it was clear that adoptions have to be driven
systematically in a very structured way but the multiplicity of stakeholders in the NHS makes
this very difficult to achieve. She added: ‘This is the time to innovate – industries that
continue to trade in the long term are the ones that innovate in the down time.’
The presentation set out five steps to improve the adoption of innovation in the NHS. They
are:
1. Understand the nature of the problem that requires solution.
2. Identify with stakeholders the key measures of what would be success in solving the
problem(s).
3. Collect evidence in the NHS of real clinical outcomes from the change and clear
information about how, for example, to procure the changes.
4. Identify the barriers to adoption and explain how they can be overcome.
5. Raise awareness to facilitate widespread adoption.
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/HaCRIC_Conference_250911_v21.pdf
General Presentations
Focus on key stakeholders when transforming healthcare models
Dr Danielle Tucker (Imperial College London) presented research looking at the
management of rapid and fundamental change in care models. She detailed case studies
currently underway of three hospitals in the US, Canada and the UK. Each is undergoing
change in their care processes alongside a move to a new-build facility (a redesign around
single bed rooms). Such radical organisational change requires careful planning and
management and the involvement of stakeholders, within a time critical period. The team
has found mixed levels of change management and engagement across the three sites.
Contrary to current thinking, engagement was often most successful when focused on
communicating with those who had most to gain from the transition, rather than being
inclusive across the whole organisation. Initial indications suggest that successful transition
management does need to include all stakeholders, that the impact of resistant or
dysfunctional groups can be mitigated with strong buy-in from both top management and
frontline staff.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 83
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/HaCIRIC_conference_Tucker_Hendy_Barlow.pdf
Consensual structures can help adoption of innovation, but may be used for delay
Kyriakos Hatzaras (Imperial College London) explored the efficacy of consensual politics in
advancing healthcare reform through supporting innovation adoption. The case examined is
the Slovene national eHealth project, funded by the government of Slovenia and the EU,
which aims to deliver a new national eHealth network, eHealth portal and national Electronic
Health Record (EHR), education and training for health professionals.
This case study suggests that healthcare is a policy area where reform is influenced by the
domestic political culture and mode of policy-making chosen to bring about reform. It further
shows that consensual structures introduced to facilitate policy design contribute positively to
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the adoption of innovation at the start of healthcare reform. However, stakeholders may also
take advantage of opportunities offered by consensual policy-making structures and use
their leverage to delay or stall reform.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 84
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/HaCIRIC11_eHealth_Slovenia_K_S_HATZARAS.pdf
Integrate evidence-based implementation into routine clinical practice
In the current political and economic climate the drive to improve quality in healthcare must
be met by the delivery of evidence-based practices that benefit patients at a population level.
To maximise outputs from the production and synthesis of knowledge that underpins
Evidence-Based Medicine, the research agenda must support Evidence-Based
Implementation.
Dr Julie Reed (NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London, Imperial College London, Chelsea
and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) explored the concept of Evidence-Based
Implementation (EBI) using five case studies from the NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London.
The findings suggest that EBI is feasible, but that further work is required to operationalise
current knowledge through optimisation of tools, methods, education and support
infrastructures to facilitate a systematic approach to EBI.
Dr Reed argued that any approach to Evidence-Based Implementation needs to be
integrated into routine clinical practice if Evidence-Based Medicine is to be widely
implemented and sustained. Researchers must engage directly with frontline staff to develop
fit-for-purpose approaches to deliver improvements in patient care and outcomes.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 100
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/20110927_HaCIRIC_v1.0_Julie_.pdf
Trans-cranial ultrasound devices could hold key to transformation of acute stroke
care
Dr Henry Feldman (Harvard Medical School) and Dr Evin Jacobson (Imperial College
Business School) presented on progress in the field of stroke care. Dr Jacobson presented
on latest analysis of stroke treatment for patients in Scotland (see details on presentation
slides below) Dr Feldman detailed how the number of patients presenting with symptoms of
stroke early enough to qualify for potentially reversing thrombolytic therapy is constrained
partly by the availability of imaging technology to determine that the stroke is ischaemic,
rather than haemorrhagic.
He said that field-based ultrasound devices on ambulances, particularly in geographical
locations distant from stroke treatment centres, represent a disruptive innovation: making
use of smaller, cheaper ultrasound devices, which are ‘good enough’ to determine the type
of stroke.
He argued that off-the-shelf, trans-cranial ultrasound devices might offer a convenient and
reliable means to rule out the diagnosis of haemorrhage and improve the effectiveness of
the early management of stroke. This technology could potentially facilitate faster diagnosis,
earlier therapeutic administration of thrombolytic agents, and lead to improved mortality and
reduced morbidity. He also suggested a discrete-event simulation study, focusing on
alternative patient pathways. This allows evaluations of the potential health systems effect of
field-based diagnostic devices and of teleradiology.
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Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 122
See presentation slides for Dr Jacobson:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/2.1Evin-Haciric_stroke_.pdf
Cost-benefit strengths in Electronic Health Record systems
Georgios Xydopoulos (Brunel University) detailed how in recent years Electronic Health
Record (EHR) systems have been introduced in the healthcare practice of many countries
and numerous studies have been carried out to analyse them. He presented evidence that
the incorporation of more information in the EHR and the access to this information
databases by various organizations can have a catalysing effect and lead to revolutionary
changes in healthcare systems. He explored the broader value and implications from the use
of the information that EHR systems provide, arguing that Cost Benefit Analysis applied to
the context of EHR show a promising future from EHR usage by healthcare organizations.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 136
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/georgios.pdf
Engagement is crucial to success of niche-innovation processes
Hendrik Cramer (University of Twente) detailed a study that deals with a niche-innovation
process which aims to develop a business strategy for an integrated area and healthcare
delivery project in the Netherlands. The goal is to explore the critical events and barriers on
the strategic level during the niche-innovation process in order to improve business strategy
formation in integrated area and healthcare delivery projects. It is a longitudinal study in
which the first two authors are engaged as action researchers in order to get an authentic
understanding of the niche-innovation processes. The analysis shows that it is all about
engaging actors, sharing and exchanging visions and expectations in order to reduce
uncertainty and create commitment.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 147
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/Business_Strategy_Formation__(Cramer_Dewulf_Voordijk)_-_HaCIRIC_Conference_27_09_2011_Final_1.1_.pdf
Factors identified that support long-term flexibility in healthcare facilities
Assistant Professor Jane Carthey (University of New South Wales) detailed research on
approaches to achieving flexible and adaptable health facilities. It has focussed on five case
studies in Australia, visiting and documenting key adaptability features of each case study
facility and consulting with health facility personnel where available. Findings suggest that
longer-term flexibility is assisted by: generous site area, lower rise hospital buildings along a
horizontal circulation spine (‘hospital street‘), surplus building services capacity facilitating
easy expansion/alteration, and a consistent workable planning grid supporting a range of
standardised room sizes.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: 160
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/Carthey_HaCIRIC092011.pdf
Study shows how design management reduces over-runs and improves quality
Sergio Kemmer (University of Salford) set out research into resolving complex problems of
design management that can lead to cost and schedule overruns, accidents, lower than
expected quality and inadequate functionality. Investigation, drawing on data from six
healthcare construction projects reveals that new approaches have been developed to tackle
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such problems. The research aims to show how successful projects are dealing with
integration between design, production, and operations, through an appropriate approach to
the management of production systems. It aims to assist the different parties of the AEC
industry to better understand how practices applied into design phase could support
efficiency in the management of production systems.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 176
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/Sergio_2011_09_27_Presentation_HaCIRIC_Confer
ence_Lean_design.pdf
Better knowledge management needed to consolidate healthcare building standards
Dr Michael Phiri (University of Sheffield) detailed research into the contemporary relevance
of healthcare building standards/norms and tools especially in underpinning quality and
safety in environments where care is provided.
Findings indicate the need for continued rationalisation of published material to create core
standards that facilitate frequent updates and reduce development costs, to offer
opportunities for design quality improvements, creativity and innovation. It is also essential to
strengthen and build on key guiding principles for the development of a best-practice
framework that addresses the challenges of quality, innovation, productivity and prevention
to guide healthcare decision-makers.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 190
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/Michael_HaCIRIC_Con_Sept2011V3.pdf
Involving healthcare professionals is key to accurate product costs for healthcare
Dr Anja Kern (Imperial College London) detailed research into the challenge of producing
accurate product costs for healthcare. There are problems not only of errors but also the
organizational challenge of involving non-accountants in cost system design. Her research,
based on a field study undertaken in a UK Health Trust, examines both of these issues.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 212
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/haciric_conference_2011_27092011_ak.pdf
Web-tool simplifies complex issues around health financing choices in poorer
countries
Dr Christina Pagel (University College London) detailed work on developing a web-based
tool to help low and middle income countries to develop robust health financing policies to
increase service coverage. The tool helps them make best use of complex existing research
evidence around health financing mechanisms that may be difficult for policy makers to
access. The tool shows the impact of different health financing mechanisms on potential
policy goals such as promoting equity and reducing poverty.
The web-based tool provides graphical summaries that allow a user to assess in a single
graphic: the number of relevant studies, the heterogeneity of evidence, where key evidence
is lacking and how closely the evidence matches their own context.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 213
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/4.2Pagel_HaCiric_2011_1.pdf
Benefits Quantification Method translates stakeholder views into common currency
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Benefits Quantification Method is a practical approach to engaging stakeholders in the
definition and judgement of benefits sought from investments in healthcare infrastructure;
most notably buildings. Dr Derek Thomson (Loughborough University) set out the theory
that underpins BQM and presented a hypothetical example of its use derived from insights
gained during its development.
As many of these benefits are intangible and cannot be directly measured, the extent of their
realisation must be judged by the stakeholders to whom they will accrue. This requires a
participatory approach to defining investment project intent and monitoring performance in
realising those benefits.
Dr Thomson explained the role of a BQM Facilitator in engaging stakeholders in the
translation of programme-level, strategic benefits into the project-level, tactical benefits they
seek. His presentation addressed the practicalities of translating abstract definitions of
benefits into practical explanations of what stakeholders expect benefits realisation to ‘look
like’ when achieved. It particularly identified the need for rigour in translating stakeholder
observations of benefits into meaningful quantifications.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 224
See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/haciric_2011_presentation_v31.pdf
Brighton ‘3Ts’hospital development builds new template for low carbon design
Matthew Bacon of Eleven Informatics LLP presented on the continuing failure of the NHS
Estate, in common with a large number of buildings, to deliver low carbon performance, thus
potentially jeopardising the Governments targets for a low carbon economy.
He noted that, in 2006, the National Audit office expressed concern that 80 per cent of
government estate was failing to perform to the required standards and a 2009 follow up
study showed little improvement.
His presentation described a new approach to low carbon design being undertaken by the
authors on the project known as ‘3T‘s’ for the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS
Trust. The work is developing a fundamentally new approach to low carbon design for
hospital facilities.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 244
Simulation offers developing countries new way to fashion TB control programmes
Ivor Langley (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) detailed how the introduction and
scale-up of new tools for the diagnosis of Tuberculosis (TB) in developing countries has the
potential to make a huge difference to the lives of millions of people living in poverty.
To achieve this, he said, policy makers need the information to make the right decisions
about which new tools to implement and where in the health infrastructure to apply them
most effectively. These decisions are difficult as new and expensive tools are developed and
the health system and patient impacts are uncertain, particularly in poor and rural settings.
The presentation demonstrated how a discrete-event simulation, linked to transmission
models, can play a significant part in improving and informing these decisions. Results were
presented for a diagnostic facility in Tanzania which can be used to evaluate alternative
tools to provide policy makers with valuable information on health systems costs and patient
outcomes.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 262
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See presentation slides:
http://www.haciric.org/static/doc/events/langley.pdf
Resistance more than technology hampers adoption of Building Information
Modelling
Ergo Pikas (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) set out the strategic reasons for
deploying Building Information Modelling, based on evidence from 13 healthcare projects in
the US and the UK. His presentation detailed initial findings indicating that use of BIM
enables a holistic view of project delivery and helps to integrate project parties into a
collaborative process. However, the initiative to implement BIM must come from the top
down to enable early involvement of all key stakeholders. It seems that a key factor
hindering the utilization of BIM is resistance from people to new ways of working and
thinking more than immaturity of the technology required for the exercise.
Read more: Conference Proceedings: page 286
Ends
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